Rypien A Pro At Leading Super 'skins

Warner Hessler

Some may argue that this is not the week to say something nice about quarterback Mark Rypien of the Washington Redskins.

Some may argue that this should have been written after he called all of his plays and engineered a six-play, 53-yard drive in the final minutes to beat Cincinnati.

Or after he completed 10 third-down passes and threw for two touchdowns in a victory in Chicago. Or after his two TD passes in the second half beat the New York Giants.

Why do it in a week after he fumbled and was intercepted in an overtime victory over Houston?

That's the point, though. It's easy to say he was great after a great day. But how was he when he didn't look that good from the sideline? Did he really help the team win, or did it win despite him?

The worst way to judge a quarterback is after a couple of games. He's going to be either great or awful. The best way is to sit back a few months and wait for a pattern to emerge.

Through nine victories in 1991, two patterns have emerged - 1. Rypien is passing less, and the Redskins are enjoying it more; 2. Rypien is maintaining ball control by completing an unusually high percentage of third down passes.

To get a better idea of where Rypien and the Redskins are today, let's take a look back at where they've been. Let's go back to 1990 and the two defeats by San Francisco, a 26-13 loss in September that was supposed to be a gauge of how well they compared with the defending champions, and a 28-10 setback in the playoffs.

In both games, the Redskins played well enough, and were in a position to win. But they lost because San Francisco had a huge edge at the vital quarterback position.

In the two games combined, Joe Montana of the 49ers completed 19 of 25 passes on third down for 250 yards and 18 first downs. Rypien completed 7 of 23 for 61 yards and six first downs.

Rypien has been just short of sensational on third downs this season, and Washington is 9-0 and has controlled the ball an average of 32.6 minutes per game.

Pay attention because I'm going to throw a lot of numbers at you. The quarterback position is, after all, a position of numbers.

Last season, the Redskins converted 46.6 percent of their third down opportunities. This season, they've been successful on 55.4 percent.

You have to look no further than the quarterback to figure from where the almost 10 percent improvement comes.

On third down, Rypien has completed 57 of 91 passes - 62.6 percent - for 762 yards, seven of his 11 touchdown passes, and 50 first downs. Not included are 19 passes that were dropped and four touchdown passes that were nullified because of penalties.

The Redskins, who have thrown 90 fewer passes this season than at a similar point last year, have been so successful on third downs that Kelly Goodburn hasn't punted enough times to qualify for the league ratings.

Rypien's third down success has allowed the Redskins to exercise ball control, which translates into a more balanced offense.

Last year at this time, 37.4 percent of the offense came on the ground. This year, the run has accounted for 44.2 percent of the offense.

There's more to judging a quarterback than paying attention to total yards and touchdown passes. There are the team-oriented stats, such as third-down efficiency, and Rypien's numbers are excellent in this area.

His more recognizable statistics may not get him into the Pro Bowl, but they could get the Redskins into the Super Bowl.